The Vatican Information Service is a news service, founded in the Holy See Press Office, that provides information about the Magisterium and the pastoral activities of the Holy Father and the Roman Curia...[+]

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Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Vatican City, 27 October 2015 (VIS) –
The Holy Father has written a letter to Cardinal Secretary of State
Pietro Parolin regarding various issues that have arisen during the
process of reforming the structures of the Roman Curia. The following
is the full text of the letter:

“While the process of reform of
various structures of the Roman Curia, to which the Council of
Cardinals I instituted on 28 September 2013 is dedicating its
attention, is continuing in accordance with the established
programme, it is necessary to note that certain problems have emerged
in the meantime, in relation to which I intend to take prompt action.

I wish first to state that the current
period of transition is not a time of vacatio legis. Therefore, I
confirm that the Apostolic Constitution “Pastor bonus” and
subsequent amendments thereto remain in full force, along with the
General Regulations of the Roman Curia.

Since compliance with the common rules
is necessary both to guarantee the orderly conduct of work in the
Roman Curia and in the institutions connected to the Holy See, and to
ensure equitable treatment of employees and collaborators, also in
economic terms, I order that the provisions in the aforementioned
documents, as well as in the Regulations for lay staff of the Holy
See and Vatican City State and the Regulations of the independent
Commission for the evaluation of the recruitment of lay staff in the
Apostolic See, be scrupulously observed.

Accordingly, all staff hiring and
transfers must be carried out within the limits established by
staffing plans, excluding any other criterion, with the nulla osta of
the Secretariat of State and in compliance with the prescribed
procedures, including reference to the established parameters for
remuneration.

The above, to the extent compatible
with their Regulations, is valid also for the Governorate of Vatican
City State and the dependent Institutions of the Apostolic See,
although not expressly indicated in the Apostolic Constitution Pastor
bonus, with the exception of the Institute for the Works of Religion.

I therefore request, Your Eminence,
that the provisions I have mentioned be brought to the attention of
all the Superiors of the Dicasteries, the Offices and Bodies of the
Roman Curia, as well as the Commissions, Committees and connected
Institutions, as well as the Governorate, highlighting in particular
the aspects requiring special attention, and that supervision of
compliance be exercised.

I thank you for your collaboration and,
in communion of intentions and prayer, I cordially greet you in the
Lord”.

Vatican City, 27 October 2015 (VIS) –
Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin today sent a telegram on
behalf of the Holy Father to Archbishop Ghaleb Bader, apostolic
nuncio in Pakistan, following the serious earthquake in Afghanistan
and Pakistan.

“His Holiness Pope Francis was deeply
saddened to learn of the tragic loss of life in Afghanistan and
Pakistan as a result of the earthquake in the region. He expresses
his heartfelt solidarity with all those affected by this disaster,
and he offers the assurance of his prayers for the dead, as well as
for the injured and those still missing. Upon all those who mourn the
loss of loved ones and upon the civil authorities and emergency
personnel involved in the relief efforts, Pope Francis invokes the
divine blessings of consolation and strength”.

Vatican City, 27 October 2015 (VIS) –
Pope Francis has sent a message to the cardinal archbishop of
Florence, Giuseppe Bettori, Grand Chancellor of the On the occasion
of the Sophia University Institute, Loppiano, Italy, following the
conferral of a doctorate honoris causa in “Culture of Unity” to
His Holiness Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

The Holy Father greets those present,
expresses his closeness, and offers a special thought for his beloved
brother Bartholomew, to whom, he writes, “I renew my sentiments of
profound esteem and heartfelt appreciation, rejoicing in the present
initiative which, as well as constituting heartfelt recognition for
his commitment to the promotion of the culture of unity, contributes
favourably to the common journey our Churches take towards full and
visible unity, to which we aspire with dedication and perseverance”.

“In the hope that the Sophia
University Institute, following the charism of the Focolari Movement
and open to the action of the Spirit, may continue to be a place of
encounter and dialogue between different cultures and religions, I
assure my prayerful remembrance and, asking for your prayers, I
impart my Blessing to all present”, the Pope concludes.

Vatican City, 27 October 2015 (VIS) –
This morning in the Holy See Press Office a press conference was held
to present the 51st International Eucharistic Congress, to take place
in Cebu, Philippines from 24 to 31 January 2016 on the theme “Christ
in you, our Hope of glory; the Eucharist, source and goal of
mission”. The speakers were Archbishop Jose S. Palma of Cebu,
Philippines, Archbishop Piero Marini, Italy, president of the
Committee for the International Eucharistic Congresses, and Fr.
Vittore Boccardi, S.S.S., member of the same committee.

Archbishop Palma commented on the
importance of the choice of Asia and the Philippines to host the
Congress. “In recent years, Asia is the continent that has become
one of the great engines of world growth in the economic and social
point of view”, he said. “From the religious point of view,
however, it is still a contingent that has to be evangelised; …
where the Catholic Church is a small minority; in spite of being the
continent where Jesus was born, lived, died and rose again. The 51st
Eucharistic Congress, therefore, could become the mirror of the Asian
Church in the sense that it will see how the Catholic Church carries
out its task of evangelisation. As with the previous Congresses,
representatives of the different Churches and a myriad of pilgrims
from all over the world will be attending”.

The Congress, he continued, is expected
to be attended by “around 20 cardinals, 50 bishops from other
countries and at least 100 Filipino bishops who gather for the
Catholic Bishops Conference Plenary Assembly in January 2016. As of
October 2015, we already have 8,345 registered pilgrims representing
57 nations”. In addition, said Archbishop Palma, so far there are
600 registered host families ready to welcome pilgrims.

The events of the Congress will be
divided into two main parts: the first, the “Theological
Symposium”, will take place from 20 to 22 January, and the
“Congress Proper”, from 24 to 31 January. The basic themes for
reflection during the Theological Symposium are: “The Christian
Virtue of Hope”; “Eucharist in the Gospel of St. John”;
“Liturgy and Inculturation”; “The History of the Novus Ordo”;
“Evangelising the Secular World” and “A Catechism on the Sunday
Eucharist”. During the Congress Proper, the themes will be “Christ
our Hope of Glory”; “Christian Hope”; “The Eucharist as
Celebration of the Paschal Mystery”; “The Eucharist as Mission”;
“Mission as Dialogue”; “The Eucharist and Dialogue with
Cultures”; “The Eucharist and Dialogue with the Poor”; “The
Eucharist and Dialogue with other Religions” and “The Eucharist
and Mary”.

Archbishop Marini, with reference to
the theme of the Congress, affirmed that “the evangelical
announcement and faith in the Lord Jesus professed by the Christian
community are important and necessary for Asia, but must be presented
in accordance with the methods of dialogue, methods that have
distinguished the activity of the particular Churches of the
continent in the last thirty years. It is precisely this programme of
dialogue with cultures, religious traditions and the multitudes of
the poor that forms, in an entirely natural and evident way, the
fabric of pastoral reflections contained in the basic text. The text
explains that the Eucharist is the source and culmination of the
mission of the Church and identifies the added value offered by the
Eucharistic celebration for a mission that is committed to leavening
through the enzymes of dialogue, reconciliation, peace and future, of
which Asia is in great need”.

“The Eucharistic Congresses, then,
will go to Cebu to recall that the mission is an exchange of gifts
between those who announce and who receive the evangelical message”,
he added. “They go to the city that is the cradle of Christianity
in the East to give and to receive, to evangelise and to be
evangelised, to speak but also to listen. In that human environment
that is not linked to the labyrinth of rationalism, the celebration
of the Eucharistic mystery is bound with the experience of poverty,
suffering and affections and continues to build communities that wish
to break bread in the Kingdom of God”.

Finally, Fr. Boccardi commented that
the event in Cebu, along with the World Youth Days, World Family Day,
and so on, will become “an extraordinary resource for bearing
witness, through its celebration, to how the Eucharist is not only
the source of life in the Church but also the place of its projection
in the world. Every particular Church that celebrates the Eucharist
in any part of the world, is called upon to demonstrate the maturity
of giving to others, of mutual listening, of availability and
concrete collaboration so that the community of faithful might become
the house of God and of our brothers amid the homes of mankind. There
it will be possible to live that 'dialogue of life” that is a
starting point for the joyful witness of the Gospel”.

- Bishop Matteo Maria Zuppi, auxiliary
of Rome, as metropolitan archbishop of Bologna (area 3,549,
population 998,600, Catholics 951,462, priests 590, permanent deacons
127, religious 1,115), Italy. He succeeds Cardinal Carlo Caffarra,
whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese upon
reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy Father.

- Msgr. Corrado Lorefice as
metropolitan archbishop of Palermo (area 1,366, population 916,000,
Catholics 909,000, priests 479, permanent deacons 41, religious
1,249), Italy. The bishop-elect was born in Ispica, Italy in 1962 and
was ordained a priest in 1987. He holds a licentiate in moral
theology and a doctorate in moral theology, and has served in a
number of pastoral roles in the diocese of Noto, Italy, including
bursar and vice rector of the seminary, lecturer in moral theology,
director of the diocesan and regional centres for vocations, director
of formation of permanent deacons, director of the diocesan
catechistic office, parish administrator, and episcopal vicar for the
clergy. He is currently parish priest and vicar forane, episcopal
vicar for pastoral ministry, and lecturer in the “San Paolo”
theological faculty of Catania. He succeeds Cardinal Paolo Romeo,
whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese upon
reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy Father.

- Msgr. Giacomo Morandi, vicar general
of the archdiocese of Modena-Nonantola, Italy, as under-secretary of
the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.